ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 183796
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| Date: | Sunday 29 November 1953 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: | Miles M.14A Hawk Trainer Mk III |
| Owner/operator: | Redhill Flying Club |
| Registration: | G-AIYD |
| MSN: | 2132 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | 46 High Street, Nutfield, Surrey -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Redhill Aerodrome, Redhill, Surrey (EGKR) |
| Redhill Aerodrome, Redhill, Surrey (EGKR) | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Miles M.14A Hawk trainer Mk.III: Ex-RAF Miles Magister T9915. First civil registered (C of R11072/1; C of A 8913) on 4/12/46 as G-AIYD to the Redhill Flying Club, Redhill Aerodrome, Redhill, Surrey
Written off (damaged beyond repair) 29/11/53 when crashed into garden of a house in South Nutfield, Surrey. Both person on board the aircraft were killed: Robert Holmes and Arthur Walter Webster. According to a contemporary newspaper report ("Dundee Courier" - Monday 30 November 1953):
"PLANE TRAPS WOMAN IN GARDEN
Two flyers killed in fog crash
"SO LITTLE I COULD DO," SAYS MODEST HEROINE
The two occupants of a Miles Magister aircraft were killed yesterday when it crashed into a shed in the garden of a row of cottages in High Street, Nutfield, Surrey. A woman was caught by a wing-tip and pinned down. Although shaken, she was unhurt except for a cut on one leg. A young ex-nurse from Coventry, visiting relatives in the village, bravely helped in rescue work.
The light aircraft was from a flying club at nearby Redhill, and crashed in thick mist. The pilot and the passenger were Robert Holmes, of Four Oaks, Mallfield, Surrey, and Arthur Walter Webster, of Elmes Road, Harrow Weald, Middlesex. Both were members of the Redhill Flying Club. Their little blue and white machine tore through a belt of trees, struck a shed, and somersaulted into a garden.
Saved by neighbour
As it fell, one wing pinned down 61-year-old Mrs Daisy Morris, who had gone into her garden to take a pinafore off the clothes line. A neighbour, Mr William Mayne, dragged her from the wreckage.
Firemen stood by in case of fire from petrol.
Mr Mayne, a baker, said he heard the crash and saw the plane had hit a shed. "The plane was pretty well wrecked. There was no fire. Half of one wing was torn off in a tree, and then the plane came down."
"Something hit me"
Mrs Morris said - "I went into the backyard when I saw a newly-washed pinafore hanging on the line. With a thick mist hanging around, I thought it would be best to bring it in. There was not a sound. I took the pinafore and turned to leave, when something hit me and I fell. As I struggled to get up, I put my leg through what I realised was the wing an aeroplane. 'Help, Bill, help!' I shouted, and my neighbour, Mr Mayne, jumped over the garden fence and dragged me free. It was all so silent. The pilot must have switched off his engine. I am lucky to be alive. All I have got is a cut leg."
Nurse helped
Nutfield people praised the heroism of Mrs Nina Seawood, Coventry, who before her marriage was a nurse in East Surrey Hospital. She joined a band of men who rushed out from their homes to help. Mr J. N. Collyer, 35-year-old commercial airline pilot, who led the rescue party, said - "Mrs Seawood did a magnificent job, and showed an amazing amount of courage as we were getting the bodies out."
Mrs Seawood was modest about her part in the rescue. "I only did what anyone else would have done. It was dreadful, but there was really so little I could do."
Registration G-AIYD cancelled by the Secretary of State, Air Ministry 9/7/54 due to "destruction or permanent withdrawl from use of aircraft"
Sources:
1. Diário de Lisboa 30 November 1953, p 9
2. Dundee Courier 30 November 1953
3. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-AIYD.pdf
4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT 219/63: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C414835
5. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT 219/64: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C414836
6. https://www.oldreigate.com/index.php?r=1&width=1366&height=768&goto=picture_3789
7. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=14956.0
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 20-Jan-2016 21:39 | JINX | Added |
| 22-Jun-2017 20:16 | TB | Updated [Date, Time, Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Location, Country, Phase, Source, Damage, Narrative] |
| 14-Dec-2018 18:53 | pommehomme | Updated [Date, Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 16-Dec-2019 22:52 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 28-Feb-2020 19:22 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Location, Narrative] |
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